DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF AN AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM BASED ON MONITORING SOIL MOISTURE

Agbetuyi, Ayoade F. and Orovwode, H. E. and Awelewa, A. A. and Wara, S.T. and Oyediran, Tobiloba (2017) DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF AN AUTOMATIC IRRIGATION SYSTEM BASED ON MONITORING SOIL MOISTURE. Journal of Electrical Engineering.

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Abstract

An automatic irrigation control system has been designed to facilitate the automatic supply of adequate of water from a reservoir to field or domestic crops in all agricultural seasons. One of the objectives of this work is to see how human control could be removed from irrigation and also to optimize the use of water in the process. The method employed is to continuously monitor the soil moisture level to decide whether irrigation is needed, and how much water is needed in the soil. A pumping mechanism is used to deliver the needed amount of water to the soil. The work can be grouped into four subsystems namely; power supply, sensing unit, control unit and pumping subsystems which make up the automatic irrigation control system. A moisture sensor was constructed to model the electrical resistance of the soil; a regulated 12 volts power supply unit was constructed to power the system; the control circuit was implemented using operational amplifier and timer; and the pumping subsystem consisting of a submersible low-noise micro water pump was constructed using a small dc-operated motor. System response tests were carried out to determine the time taken for the system to irrigate potted samples of different soil types having different levels of dryness. The results obtained showed that sandy soils require less water than loamy soils and clay soils require the most water for irrigation.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Automation, irrigation, control, pumping, soil moisture
Subjects:	T Technology > T Technology (General) T Technology > TK Electrical engineering. Electronics Nuclear engineering
Divisions:	Faculty of Engineering, Science and Mathematics > School of Electronics and Computer Science
Depositing User:	Mrs Patricia Nwokealisi
Date Deposited:	05 Feb 2018 12:23
Last Modified:	05 Feb 2018 12:23
URI:	http://eprints.covenantuniversity.edu.ng/id/eprint/10162

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